Whangarei has a wonderful system of interconnecting tracks that let you walk from one beautiful place to the next, from the Town Basin, an artsy in-town area of galleries, shops and restaurants on the river, and out into the surrounding hills. We took full advantage and walked up to the site of an old "pa" (Maori fortified settlement), along the Hatea River to two waterfalls about 26 meters high (Whangarei and another with less water spilling over), and to an area with huge old Kauri trees. This was all within about 5 miles of walking.
Then we went out to Abbey Caves. This was an undeveloped, unguided area - very cool! There were a few other tourists around, so we weren't completely alone, and the tourist info site mentioned it, so we figured it couldn't be too dangerous. Popped on our Petzls and in we went. Some areas were dry, but we waded through ankle deep water (Goretex shoes don't keep your feet dry when you get in over the top of them :-) ) to get to a chamber about 20 feet high. Although this wasn't the most beautiful cave we've ever seen, the best part was glow worms. There were lots of them on the ceiling, and with Petzls turned off, it looked like a beautiful starry night! We elected not to go into a second cave in the area that had a steeper, more slippery descent and required you to be thigh- deep in the water.
Headed back to Auckland in the evening, ready for the Pasifika Festival tomorrow.
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